March/April Newsletter
Doubling up this month!
Hi friends!
Okay, okay, so I know I said I’d make more of an effort to send my newsletters out monthly, but technically my February one came out in March (oops), so I’ve now managed to confuse myself. Consider this as me starting fresh with an April newsletter, with it in the month of April.
So! There are some fun things inside this one, including a look at the original cover concept for The Prison Healer compared to what it ended up being, but first up, some personal news:
I SIGNED WITH A NEW AGENT!
I’m thrilled to share that I’m now represented by Jennifer Azantian of Azantian Literary Agency (guys, the agency logo has a dragon in it — is that not perfect?!?), and if you saw my official announcement over social media, you would have also seen the sneaky aesthetic images I shared about my next book, a YA contemporary survival adventure (think Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! meets Running Wild With Bear Grylls). It’s full of so many wonderful tropes, including enemies-to-lovers, grumpy-sunshine, and forced proximity (among others). For my fantasy readers, don’t fear! All your favourite things about my books are still in this one, just less dragons and magic and death. (… Actually, no promises on that last one 😅)
If you missed it, here’s the teaser pics:
Hopefully I’ll have more news to share with you soon, but until then, two fun facts:
It’s told from a dual POV, with alternating chapters between the male lead and the female lead
It’s a standalone book, which means no nasty cliffhangers (I can hear you cheering from here, haha), BUT there’s also potential for sequels with different lead characters (who you meet in this one).
In many ways, there’s more of me in this book than anything else I’ve written, and I’m unsure if that terrifies me or excites me. All I know for sure is that I can’t wait for this romantic survival story to be in your hands!
UPCOMING EVENTS IN QLD, VIC & NSW (and ONLINE):
This month I’m heading to the GOLD COAST (April 15-16) and to MELBOURNE (April 22-23), and you can find me signing books and speaking on panels both weekends at Supanova Expo. Tickets and info are available here, with the official program releasing any day now (so keep an eye out so you’ll know where to find me). Books will be available for sale at the QBD booth (where I’ll be signing), or you can bring your own from home.
(Note for Gold Coast attendees: I’ll be selling some online store merch at this event, so things like art prints, calendars, keyrings, bookmarks and notebooks will be available! (Credit/debit card sales only since taking cash will be too messy on the day!) Alas, due to baggage restrictions, I won’t be selling anything in Melbourne, sorry!)
As for NSW, next month I’ll be heading to SYDNEY for Sydney Writers’ Festival on May 27th. The session I’m doing with superstar authors Amie Kaufman and Lili Wilkinson sold out ridiculously fast, so the festival has just announced a second session that night (a repeat of the first) starting at 7:30pm, with signing time afterwards. (Books will be available to purchase there as well.) Tickets are $15 and you can grab them here, but be quick, in case it sells out again!
As for ONLINE EVENTS, to celebrate the launch of the Italian edition of The Prison Healer this week, I’ll be doing a live in-conversation on TikTok with Valentina Ghetti this Saturday April 8th at 7pm (that’s Australian (Brisbane) time — check out this nifty time converter to figure out what the equivalent is where you live.) For my new Italian readers, it’s 11am Saturday for you, just FYI!
EXCITING NEWS:
I’m thrilled to announce that my complete Whisper and Weapon duology is now available GLOBALLY as ebooks (and audiobooks) in the English language. Yes — even Weapon, which before now has been tricky for some international readers to get their hands on. I hope you love this dystopian(ish) YA series that’s like Stranger Things meets Shatter Me and Divergent. To offer a quick elevator pitch, it’s about a girl who has been locked in a secret government underground facility for the last 2.5 years, and in that time she hasn’t spoken a single word. The question is, why?
Available now where all ebooks are sold!
ALSO! Speaking of books that are out now, don’t forget that the brand new small-format paperback of The Prison Healer just released, and it includes a (lengthy) bonus scene from Jaren’s perspective.
For international readers, you can order it with free international shipping from the Book Depository by clicking here. (Please note that Book Depository has just announced that they’re closing at the end of April, so get your orders in before then!)
For Aussies (and Kiwis), you can buy it in stores, or order it from Booktopia here, or QBD here (or any of the other major online retailers).
Here’s another fun teaser quote from it, which just miiiiiiiight give you a hint about what scene it reveals from Jaren’s POV:
I think that’s it for the “news” part of this newsletter (I’m sure I’ve missed a heap of things, but oh well…), so let’s jump straight to the fun stuff!
I was cleaning out my phone’s photos the other day and I stumbled upon some of the early concept designs for The Prison Healer cover, so I thought you might want to see! Below you’ll find the first version the designer Jim Tierney sent through, where the colour scheme is very different, and the “snowblossom” in the centre is a completely different shape, plus the font is formatted with “THE” at the top. Then we jump to version two with yet another colour scheme, as well as an updated font and flower, BUT this time the drooping/dead flowers are missing, and I loved those (and their morbid symbolism) enough that I asked if we could get them back again. Eventually we reached the final version, with a whole new colour scheme, along with the updated flower and font, the returned dead flowers, and now the blurb added as well. Voilà! That’s how the gorgeous cover came to be!
Righto, I’ll leave this here, but as I like to do at the end of each newsletter, here’s:
WHAT I’M READING: I’m actually not reading anything at the moment since I don’t read and write/edit at the same time (my poor little healing brain doesn’t handle multitasking well these days), but I’m super excited for the release of Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken this month, and I’ve also just placed an order for A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen, so these will likely be my next books once I have the chance to dive in!
WHAT I’M WRITING: Since I just signed with my new agent (hooray!), I’m currently doing a quick revision of my manuscript to incorporate her editorial notes, and basically just giving it a polish so that we can send it off to publishers next month. Cross your fingers and toes for me!
WHAT I’M WATCHING: I totally binged season 2 of Shadow and Bone when it came out a few weeks ago (I loved it, though I enjoyed season 1 a smidge more), and then I devoured The Night Agent as well (an unexpected surprise!), so since my focus has shifted back to editing, I’m only watching things I’ve already seen before in order to minimise any distractions. That means I’m working my way through the Gilmore Girls and it’s so nice being back in the very first season all over again!
Okie done, that’s it from me! I hope to see some of you at my events (in person or online) this month and next! And until then, happy reading!
